The founding of angmar, and the taking of Arnor.

Please note : Much of what is written is taken from adaptations (canon or non-canon) and the Apendixes of the return of the king, and little to nothing is known of Angmar.

Let us begin with the creation of the realm. The Witch-King left Minas Morgul and traveled north of the misty mountains, where remained the forsaken men of the line of Ulfang the black ; the betrayer of the sons of Fëanor during the first age ; to prepare the return of his master by corrupting the local hills-men and destroying the greatest ally of Gondor, the legacy kingdoms of Arnor. And as such in TA 1300 was founded the fell realm of Angmar. While at first only fell men and orcs joined him at Carn Dûm, it is said in the game "Lord of the rings online : Shadows of Angmar" that older evils from Morgoth's age had lain hidden in Angmar after the destruction of Angabad and joined the lord of the nazgûl, most notable amongst these were the Gaunt men and their gaunt lords. The lord of Angmar also drew Black Númenóreans to himself ; whose fate after the battle of Fronost is unknown ; and in "The battle for Middle-Earth 2 : The rise of the Witch-King" had also taken control over Gundabad and used it's forces in his war along with "Dark Rangers" and all sorts of wraiths.Soon after it's founding, Angmar assaulted one of the three splinter Dunedain kingdoms : Rhudaur. After a swift victory he installed the kin of Ulfang as lords of Rhudaur ; who would, ironically, according to Peter Jackson's adptations bury him and his servants the nazgûl in the high fells.

After the Fall of Rhudaur, Arthedain and Cardolan united against the joint threat of Angamr and Rhudaur. It is at this time that the great fortreses of the Weather Hills were built by Arthedain northwards of Weathertop, Amon Sûl, the great watchtower of Arnor, where a palantîri was installed so that it could communicate with Fornost, capital of Arthedain. Cardolan also built it's own fortifications to protect the great east road and it's own capital Tyrn Gorthad situated in the Barrow-Downs. In TA 1356, Rhudaur launched an attack on Arthedain which ended in the death of King Argeleb the first. Yet thanks to reinforcements from Cardolan, little to no land was lost and from the weather hills a stern defence was mounted. Soon afterwards, as the hill-men began dwindling, Rhudaur dissapeared and became a deserted land.

In TA 1409 Angmar launched a massive assault with all of it's forces and utterly crushed Cardolan. Arveleg the first, son of Argeleb had with the aid of Rivendell and Cardolan maintained a defensive line along the Hoarwell up to the Ettenmoors. Yet this line was broken and Arveleg's army feld west while Rivendell and Cardolan had to fend for themselves. Arveleg was finally slain while mounting a last defence at Amon Sûl, which was destroyed and burnt in the process. Angmar destroyed all of Cardolan save for the barrow-downs, and even bessieged Imladris. But Angmar could go no further as new forces from Fornost had rallied under the new king Araphor, while the elves had broken their siege, and this new army routed the remaining forces of Angmar. With Arthedain as the last Dunedain realm, the witch-king had almost reached his goal, yet could not finish Arnor off as the alliance with elves made the northern kingdom too strong to be taken. He regrew his army, patiently waiting. In the meantime a plague from Mordor ravaged Cardolan while evil spirits from Angmar, the barrow-wights, haunted the capital, finishing off the realm.

After nearly 500 years, the witch-king determined that Fornost, Arthedain, and all of Arnor, was ready to fall. The men of Arthedain had warning of the witch-king's coming onslaught and sought out Eäurnur and Gondor for aid. But Gondor could not come for they were beset by Wainriders at th﻿e time.﻿﻿So, ﻿when at last the Witch-king was ready, he overthrew the remnant of the Dúnedain with little difficulty. The survivors were driven west across the River Lune, or into the cold north with their last desperate King, Arvedui., who would end up drowning in the frozen bay of Forochel. Imagining that he had won a final absolute victory, the Witch-king settled in Arthedain's capital of Fornost, and peopled it with his evil followers.﻿﻿﻿

Shortly there after Eärnur, having finally settled the problems in Gondor set out to aid the people of Fornost, only to find they had come too late. With the armies of Gondor came men from Rhovanion, elves from Lindon ; inculding Glorfindel ; and the remainder of the Dunedain. Accroding tho shire historians a company of Hobbit archers were sent. The battle took place on the eaves of lake Evendim, by a plain to the west of Fornost. The combine armies of the free people crushed the Angmarians ; most notably thanks to the gondorian cavalry ; and the witch-king fled the field, eastwards. Eärnur whished to hunt him down but Glorfindel convinced him otherwise, making his prophecy : He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall. In Peter Jackson's adaptation it was after this event that he was buried along with the other eight nazgûl in Rhudaur.

Still this was not to be the end of Angmar or it's witch-king, as I will speak of the role this realm has to play during the war of the ring next time- The mad Hobbit.

This isn't an update about what we believe to know about the entire film, but rather what we can suppose will happen during the battle of five armies thanks to information gathered in interviews and the original source material.

So first of all the siege,The original siege in the book while not really memorable, was important because of Bilbo's decision when he give the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard, it seems that it will make a appearance in the film although we don't know how important that appearance may be. No information has truly leaked about the siege, yet during "the desolation of Smaug" we do have the mayor acting like a despicable character (foreshadowing his reaction to Smaug's attack), Bard's and the Black arrow's appearance (to prepare us for his heroic confrontation during the battle of Esgaroth) and Smaug's flight towards lake-town. Add to that Thranduil's apparent love for gems from the extended edition of "an unexpected journey" and you have the perfect cocktail for a human-elf siege on Erebor after a terrifying assault from Smaug. Plus the leaked image above shows Bard and Legolas talking (Legolas being of royal blood means that Bard is most probably already in charge if they are discussing) and in the background what could be the construction of the siege material.

The Goblins,Will assuredly be making an appearance being the main opponents along with the wargs in the battle of five armies. But as for the bats the subject is mixed, they should have at least been introduced during the march to war yet during "desolation of Smaug", when Gandalf is overlooking the march of the goblin army I did not see "the bats [that] are above his army like a sea of locusts", still according to an interview with Richard Armitage by Empire, orcs from Gundabad will make an appearance "under the cover of bats". Knowing that the necromancer will be having to fight in Dol Guldur he won't make an appearance in the battle but Azog will lead the armies.

Men, elves and dwarves,Men will most likely be making an appearance under the banner of Dale or Esgaroth. We have already seen Thranduil's army in the opening of "an unexpected journey". As for the dwarves it has been confirmed that Dain Ironfoot of the Iron Hills will lead the army, and will be played by Bill Connolly. On Yahoo Australia during an interview Connolly said : "They're basically broadening me, making me wider," he explains, adding that the technology being used on the film is making for long, hard working days. "But let me say, this guy will terrify the life out of you. I have a Mohawk and tattoos on my head. You've got to see it." More recently at DenverCon Sylvester McCoy also alluded to Dain’s size: “Dain Ironfoot is the largest dwarf you’ve ever seen. They made that already large man twice as large.” Also confirmed is that Dain will ride a boar; which means either he will be leading the army atop a boar, Thranduil riding an elk style or that he will be mounted along with a group of boar riders like above (not official artwork, it's from armies of the third age, a game by Kabam). Richard Armitage confirms that the dwarves that will emerge from Erebor will be wearing full battle armour.

Gandalf rides to Erebor,The photo above shows of McKellen (or his double), riding Big Nick across what must be the Ruapehu Desert. The location is certainly not Te Anau. Gandlaf will probably escape during the whit council's assault on Dol Guldur and ride to aid his friends. He does says in "desolation of Smaug" that he "cannot foresake [his] (my) friends" and that they are "in great danger" and whishes to aid them, yet is counseled by Radagast to do otherwise.

Bilbo Baggins,We don’t know exactly when, but in Vlog #11, Martin Freeman seems to be wearing a gleaming something under his blue-green coat that matches the pattern of the mithril shirt we see old Bilbo give to Frodo at Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring. The published picture above also shows a small mithril like top under his coat. Also it would seem that Bilbo is to play an expanded role in the Battle of the Five Armies. Information sourced from the original character summary. : "…although… he doesn’t have huge courage he does become, particularly in the last battle, very brave." In the book he gets seperated from the Dwarves, and ends up locked up in a tower with the elves until he falls unconscious as Beorn comes to aid. In the film he will most likely fight the battle and assist at Thorin's fall if it happens.

Thorin, Fili and Kili's death, Beorn and the eagles,I'm puting all of these events in one group as their is little to no confirmation about them, they should appear but no there is no source which says so (at least none that I have seen.)

Finally here is a small video put together by MaxeBaumannFilms2013 from different blogs about the five armies. Enjoy,- The mad Hobbit